tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15825901447488444662018-02-21T05:10:43.429-08:00dash and bellacooking with 2 kidsphyllis granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354920459998410959noreply@blogger.comBlogger14913wwwdashandbellablogspotcomhttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with NewsAlloySubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with Attensa for OutlookSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with FlurrySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily Rotationtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1582590144748844466.post-4714800206830655432016-07-24T23:16:00.000-07:002016-08-16T10:31:02.116-07:00CAPTAIN FANTASTIC GIVEAWAYTHIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO <b>SARAH HAMILL </b>AND <b>VIKA ZAFRIN</b>. YOU BOTH WON COPIES OF THE <b>CAPTAIN FANTASTIC</b> SOUNDTRACK. PLEASE EMAIL ME AT <b>DASHANDBELLA@GMAIL.COM</b> AND I WILL SEND THEM ALONG. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE BEAUTIFUL COMMENTS. SO MOVING. I WILL PASS IT ALL ALONG TO MY HUSBAND. XOXO<br /><br />———<br /><br />I'm still cooking.<br /><br />I'm still writing.<br /><br />I'm still taking photos.<br /><br />I'm still working on my book.<br /><br />But this week, I want to tell you about something else. My husband, Matt Ross, wrote and directed a beautiful film called CAPTAIN FANTASTIC starring Viggo Mortensen. As of this weekend, it is playing all over the country. And soon it will be playing all over the world.<br /><br />Here is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kH4OMIOMc">trailer</a>.<br />Here is the <a href="http://www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com/captainfantastic">official web site</a>.<br />Here is where you can find <a href="http://www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com/editorial/find-theaters-captain-fantastic">local theaters playing the film</a>.<br /><br /><b>I am giving away several copies of the Captain Fantastic soundtrack. Add your name in the comments below to enter the random drawing (and maybe a hello or your favorite movie or anything you want to say to me). Just don't post anonymously because I won't be&nbsp;able&nbsp;to track you down. I will announce the winners on August 15th so make sure to check back then.</b><br /><b><br /></b>See you next week with peaches and burrata and tales of my 3 a.m. mind.<br /><br />xoxo<br />Phyllis<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ar-aEzzS7pc/V5KIfTu_elI/AAAAAAAAGAw/X-uzfhUqTnUTkhLoWqS__kH5dlwpofdJwCLcB/s1600/captain-fantastic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ar-aEzzS7pc/V5KIfTu_elI/AAAAAAAAGAw/X-uzfhUqTnUTkhLoWqS__kH5dlwpofdJwCLcB/s640/captain-fantastic1.jpg" width="414" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster by Shephard Fairey</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwwdashandbellablogspotcom/~4/QWYDoMGGJsU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>phyllis granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354920459998410959noreply@blogger.com175http://dashandbella.blogspot.com/2016/07/captain-fantastic-giveaway.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1582590144748844466.post-91917742767992967792016-01-13T20:00:00.000-08:002016-01-13T21:22:04.102-08:00ONE YEAR LATER <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm A', 'Chronicle SSm B', serif; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="font-size: 17px;"><img alt="" src="https://images.food52.com/nlpfZkGf5jHcnm6DheMpEeqVVyc=/fit-in/800x0/d27c3e69-5a80-4a10-bb9d-89f7ac2b660d--gingerbread2.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span></b><span style="font-size: 17px;">ur kitchens were stacked.</span><br /><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Mine was on the second floor with more dishes than I could ever handle. I would&nbsp;<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">clop clop clop</em>&nbsp;around in my cooking clogs, practicing the art of keeping young children alive.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Hers was on the first floor with enough jars and tupperware and folded paper bags and cocoa squirreled away for any kind of apocalypse that might happen to come along. When it came to cooking, she knew everything about everything. She had just stopped doing it, her culinary world reduced to tapioca pudding, toast, and tea.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; My grandmother heard my children grow up. Every tumble, every tantrum. She heard me grow up. Ten years of marriage. Four years of trying to conceive a second baby. She heard every thrown plate, every slammed door, every episode of “Battlestar Galactica.”</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I worried she was hearing too much life through her ceiling. So I apologized for it all. She wouldn’t hear of it. She wanted the noise. She wanted us up there.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I had moved into the upstairs apartment when I was 33, when I had a 9-month old baby girl, when I had heaps of unspoken post-partum sadness. My grandmother would listen to me talk and talk and talk. I would tell my stories about parenting and marriage just to see if she would smile or laugh. She was blind in one eye, so sometimes I would think she wasn’t listening. But months later she would repeat my world back to me. Moment by moment, the details locked into her brain like the words she gobbled up from her never-ending pile of New Yorkers, New York Review of Books, mystery novels.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; We respected each other’s privacy. No knocking. Just carefully penciled in dates. She liked having her dinner alone, or so she said. I think she didn’t want me to feel put out. So it was just tea or drinks. Her lipstick on. My hair brushed. All of the kids’ detritus shoved away in closets. At the carefully chosen time, she would walk out her front door and cross the lawn—pausing for a few deep breaths with her hand on the jacaranda tree—and then around to the other side of the house to my front door.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I would call her when things went awry.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I could hear the phone ringing downstairs and then I could feel her warmth slowly shifting out of bed and towards the phone.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The soup is too thin, grandma. What do I do? (Add a cooked and mashed potato.) The braised meat isn’t softening up. (More time? Some acid?)</em></div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</i>I would call her to be my recipe guinea pig.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Grandma, can I bring you a little something I’ve been working on?</em></div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; As long as it’s not caramel.</em></div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; It’s not caramel. I promise.</em></div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Just leave it outside. Thank you.</em></div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</i>I would cover it in plastic wrap, walk it down the stairs, and leave it on the bench outside her front door.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I would call her just to make sure she was still alive.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; She would get the first cookie, the warmest piece of pie, a corner of the croquembouche debacle, a smear of the ridiculous cheeseball, the first and last attempt at homemade bread, a slice of every single gingerbread I ever made.</div><div style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; All I wanted to do was feed her. And in return I would get the blunt-ass truth via a phone call.&nbsp;<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Too sweet. A bit ugly. Absolutely delicious. Fine, fine, fine. Maybe don’t cook it quite so long next time?</em></div><div style="font-size: 17px;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</i>After she died, I went through her kitchen and found dozens of ramekins, plates, silverware from my own kitchen. I can see her, eating the treats in bed. She glides through her apartment, scraping the remains, rinsing the dishes. Then she tucks them away as her own.</div></div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm A', 'Chronicle SSm B', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="https://images.food52.com/K6-tYdHMZGQQ4IzWCIXeBMOAEsg=/fit-in/800x0/96aa4bb6-a21a-4f1a-b000-a9ef47faef72--gingerbread6.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: 'Gotham SSm A', 'Gotham SSm B', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Chronicle SSm A', 'Chronicle SSm B', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My recipe for <a href="https://food52.com/recipes/39877-gingerbread-with-cream-cheese-frosting">Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting </a>can be found in my Food52 column.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwwdashandbellablogspotcom/~4/tCe8hQvrHcY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>phyllis granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354920459998410959noreply@blogger.com85http://dashandbella.blogspot.com/2016/01/one-year-later.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1582590144748844466.post-28937379352429481582015-11-16T20:20:00.001-08:002015-12-21T08:33:43.501-08:00GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY YES IT'S TRUE <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>—THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR&nbsp;BEAUTIFUL WORDS.—</b><br /><b><br /></b><b>Quick&nbsp;addition to what's written below: The wonderful Ten Speed Press has generously agreed to donate 3 more cookbooks to my giveaway. Read through and comment below for a chance to win 1 of 2 boxes of books. Happy holidays!&nbsp;</b><br /><br />Books. They are taking over our apartment. Towering piles in every direction. Cookbooks stacked on kitchen chairs. Filmmaking everything. How to feed a baby, raise a daughter, avoid mold, live happily ever after. Plumbing guides next to French anchovy books. Harry Potter this. Coming-of-age memoir that. "Buddhism for Dummies." Heaps of poetry. But we don't know how to get rid of them. We don't want to get rid of them. Once a month, an IKEA shelf drops down from the weight of a double- and sometimes triple-deep row of books. Or while I'm looking for a Chuck Palahniuk novel, "Ulysses Annotated" will crash down on my toes. Escoffier hides behind "Spago's Desserts" and the Cook's Illustrated's "Baking Book" (perched on my favorite stool) has been holding up one side of our kitchen table for longer than I would care to admit. But I love all of the books. I talk to them like I talk to my herbs.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's the good news for you and for me: I am giving away three of my books in my first blog giveaway. And considering our pathological love for books around here, it was very moving to be able to tell my daughter that I am in three books this fall and that I would love for her to photograph me holding them. So she did.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GiDaXd0Bxy4/VkJ69FOtojI/AAAAAAAAF1I/YQB_aCIVfpc/s1600/firstgiveaway3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GiDaXd0Bxy4/VkJ69FOtojI/AAAAAAAAF1I/YQB_aCIVfpc/s400/firstgiveaway3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Here are some details on the books (and links to buy), but see below for GIVEAWAY DETAILS.</b><br /><br />See the book on top? That's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Best-Food-Writing-Holly-Hughes/dp/0738218642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1447115166&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=best+food+writing+2015" target="_blank">BEST FOOD WRITING 2015</a>&nbsp;(published by Da Capo Press / edited by Holly Hughes). It includes my&nbsp;<a href="https://food52.com/blog/12183-brown-butter-apple-tart">apple tart story and recipe</a> from my Food52 column. And some of my favorite writers are in this compilation including Emily Thelin, John Birdsall, Elissa Altman, Jeff Gordinier, Tom Junod, Kim Foster, Sarah Henry, John T. Edge, Pete Wells, Ryan Sutton, and some guy I've never heard of named Anthony Bourdain.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The book in the middle of the pile is called&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Here-She-Comes-Now-Changed/dp/1940207738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1447115297&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=here+she+comes+now" target="_blank">HERE SHE COMES NOW: Women in Music Who Have Changed Our Lives</a>&nbsp;(published by Rare Bird Books / edited by Jeff Gordinier and Marc Weingarten). My essay from this book—on Madonna, Miley Cyrus, and my perimenopausal hormones—was re-published over on <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/07/05/i_am_mileys_mother_i_am_her_lover_i_am_her_critic_i_am_a_mixed_up_hormonal_monster/">Salon.com</a>. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/07/05/i_am_mileys_mother_i_am_her_lover_i_am_her_critic_i_am_a_mixed_up_hormonal_monster/">Check it out</a> and I do hope it inspires you to buy the book and read the other 21 stories. It is a compelling and diverse collection including some badassery from Susan Choi on Stevie Nicks, Kate Christensen on Tina Turner, Charlotte Druckman on Mary J. Blige, Lisa Catherine Harper on Kate Bush, Jennifer Nix on June Carter Cash, Rosie Schaap on Sandy Denny,&nbsp;Ada Limón on Aretha Franklin, Bart Blasengame on Liz Phair, and Ian Daly on PJ Harvey.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The larger book at the bottom of the pile is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Food52-Baking-Sensational-Treats-Works/dp/1607748010" target="_blank">FOOD52 BAKING: 60 Sensational Treats You Can Pull Off in a Snap</a>&nbsp;(published by Ten Speed Press). My recipe for Brown Butter Cupcake Brownies is included (<a href="https://food52.com/blog/9755-brown-butter-cupcake-brownies">my accompanying essay</a> is not in the book but it can be still be found on <a href="https://food52.com/blog/9755-brown-butter-cupcake-brownies">Food52</a>). This cookbook is elegantly photographed by James Ransom and lovingly styled by some of my favorite people over at Food52. Here are some of the fabulous treats my cupcake recipe is hanging out with: Italian Cornmeal Cookies from Emiko Davies, Savory Galette with Greens and Gruyère from Marian Bull, Black Sesame Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream from Molly Yeh, Olive Oil Ricotta Cake from Kenzi Wilbur, Cherry Almond Crumb Cake from Yossy Arefi, Skillet Spice Cake with Gooey Caramel Bottom (!!!) from Merrill Stubbs. It's a practical collection. It's a longterm collection. It's a beautiful collection. I'm thrilled to be included.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>GIVEAWAY DETAILS:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've never done a giveaway. Maybe you've never entered one? So let's just make the rules up. Here's how to enter (but please let me know if you have questions):</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Add a comment below. Maybe post a link to your favorite song. Or tell me a story about cooking or parenting. Or share a kitchen hack. List your favorite books ever. Or tell me what you're going to have for dinner tonight. Ask a question about salad dressing. Describe your marriage. What moves you? What pisses you off? What keeps you going? Give me a list of what parenting has taught you. Tell me the books that are stacked next to your bed. Break down your technique for roasting a chicken. Write a story. Sum up this week in five words. Anything. Just don't post anonymously or I will never find you again.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2. On December 20th, Dash will select a random winner by drawing a name out of my new favorite black hat.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">3. On January 1st, 2016, I will send the winner some Meyer lemons, a batch of <a href="http://dashandbella.blogspot.com/2015/02/i-know-mama-who_23.html">granola</a>, and a copy of each book I talked about above. Plus, I will throw in a surprise book. A cookbook. That's all I'll say for now.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">4. Or just skip the whole giveaway hooha and order them from your local bookstore or Amazon.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If for some reason you have trouble with the commenting function (it happens! no worries!) or if you wish to post anonymously, feel free to send me an email at dashandbella@gmail.com and I will enter you into the drawing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I am really excited to share these books. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. You all keep me writing and cooking and breathing. And &nbsp;I am so grateful.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">xoxo</div><div style="text-align: left;">Phyllis</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-qGJqhhNA0/VkJ6-DzQN3I/AAAAAAAAF1Q/p79iBUMhnrY/s1600/firstgiveaway2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-qGJqhhNA0/VkJ6-DzQN3I/AAAAAAAAF1Q/p79iBUMhnrY/s320/firstgiveaway2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(photos by isabel ross)</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwwdashandbellablogspotcom/~4/hRehPRcAmnI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>phyllis granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18354920459998410959noreply@blogger.com172http://dashandbella.blogspot.com/2015/11/giveaway-giveaway-giveaway-yes-its-true.html